reinsulate.boiler

pipeking

   i've cleaned out my boiler room recently and i noticed that my boiler give off alot of heat,alot. it is a 3 section utica about 9 yrs. old. ir reading of the jacket is 102*f. so what do u guy think the best way of insulating it would be.

  my first thought is to take off the jacket and use some mineral wool(rock wool) i got and reinsulate cuz thats what i've use in the past for customer repairs. my second thought would be to use insulating cement but i don't have any. and i don't know the r value of the cement. i've used it in the past on comercial boilers but i'm pretty sure it used asbestos. i don't want that.  i want the best, so what would give me the best r value in that small amount of space?

Gordan

Aerogel :-)

Might be difficult to get, though.

pipeking

ya,

 what do u think will be difficult getting a good r value, or the product i need

Gordan

Nah, just kidding around

Silica aerogel is a very good insulator but, at least for now, not available in a practical form factor. They make blankets that are R-10/in but I don't know whether they're fire rated. You should be fine with just fiberglass or rock wool, don't overpack it and make sure that it stays dry. Which brings me to this question: is your insulation wet for some reason, such as condensation or a leak?

pipeking

everythings good except...

  ya the boiler is nice and clean, pretty new, good clean install, but the boiler itself just puts out alot of heat. i've taken the jacket off and it has just 1" of foil backed yellow insulation(from factory) and it's not dense at all. we've all had to seperate sections of boilers in basements and they used to be insulated so good (ussually asbestis mastic) what happend? that r10 stuff, how thick is it?

SWEI

how much room is there

Between the casting and the sheet metal?  Owens-Corning 700 series glass works pretty well (and does a great job of silencing.)  Adhering it to the sheet metal makes tear-downs far easier than stuffing will.

pipeking

r value

 do u know the r value of the owens corning(so i can do some math and figure out the heat loss, which i will prolly be wrong!!lol). as for adhering it to the jacket, thats what i was thinking. loctite spray contact cement works with the mineral wool. i;m going to look up the owens stuff now.thanks

SWEI

R-value

Depends on thickness and temp.  http://www.owenscorning.com/comminsul/documents/Fiberglas700Series.pdf has all the details.  Average of boiler temp and air temp will get you a good number.

pipeking

aw man

 it seem that the surfice temp table is pretty close to the temps that im experiencing now. type 703 1" at 200*f has a surfice temp of 98*f. thats pretty close. tell me if im crazy thinking i could get surice temps close to ambient temps of the room 74*F. now it prolly only 74*f cuz of the boiler losing heat. the surrounding rooms r at 65*f constentlly.

SWEI

if there's not room for

additional thickness, you don't have a whole lot of options.  Do you have any draft control?



Is this a steam or hot water boiler?  If it's hot water, and if the heat loss and radiation will tolerate it, you might be able to drop the water temp to 170 or even 160.

pipeking

i wish..

  i can't lower the temp cuz i got a tankless. i'm going to close this post on that note i've got everything i need now.  THANKS!